Contemporary, Impressionistic fine art paintings

Oakdale Ranch

This past Saturday was a ranch visit for the Yolo Arts & Ag Project. Heading down straight on Hwy 16 from Main Street in Woodland, I find myself heading to the small farm town, Esparto. I passed the migrant camp where my son had tutored farmhand children.

It’s a beautiful farm. Came first to a pond set up with an gazebo for entertainment. After checking in and scouting around for possible places to paint, I came upon open fields with the mountains as backdrops. No matter what farm or ranch I’m at, I always go to the mountains. And with a building.

This painting is my second attempt. It worked out so much better. The weather had started cool but got up to the high 90’s after a couple hours. Yet there appeared to be thunderclouds coming from over the mountains. The clouds were in a beautiful formation.

My goal with this painting was to create distance. I particularly paid attention to color – Darker and brighter colors in the mid and foregrounds. The mountains a more grayish blues with hints of yellowish brown to create distance. Another goal was to capture the intensity of the midday sun. The building worked out perfectly for that.